1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The performance of display apparatuses that input and display images (referred to hereinbelow as “displays”) has recently improved and functionality of displays has increased accordingly. The number of settable set values has also increased according to the increase in functionality.
The set values include, for example, set values relating to specifications of display apparatuses, set values relating to display, and set values relating to image processing.
The set values relating to specifications of display apparatuses include, for example, a resolution (display resolution), a representable color gamut, a representable gradation (bit depth), and a frame rate.
The set values relating to display include, for example, a brightness adjustment value, a color temperature set value, and a gamma set value.
The set values relating to image processing include, for example, an enhancer set value that adjusts the sharpness of displayed image, a set value of stored color correction processing that corrects the displayed colors on the basis of stored colors in humans (for example, the value of color after correction), a set value of frame rate conversion processing that converts the frame rate of dynamic images (for example, a frame rate after correction), whether black insertion processing is performed to increase dynamic image responsiveness by inserting black images between display frames, and whether dynamic gamma processing is performed to correct gamma values on the basis of statistics relating to the displayed image.
There are no unified specifications or standards relating to functions of the aforementioned image processing, and the types of the available image processing functions, methods for realizing the image processing, and the effects obtained typically differ depending on the display apparatus. The functions of the above-mentioned display processing will be referred to hereinbelow as “display unique functions” or simply “unique functions”.
Further, the above-described increase in display functionality and increase in the degree of freedom in setting have resulted in the development of displays that can emulate another display as one of display application examples. The emulation as referred to herein is a process of executing the software developed for a certain hardware on another hardware of a different design. In the emulation, a program is activated by creating the environment of another display by simulation via software called “emulator”.
In a workflow such as movie production, the final display is performed, for example, with a projector. Where a display can be prepared that can emulate the projector properties, it would be possible to check the appropriateness of produced contents (created image), without actually using the projector.
The displays capable of emulating the final output device (display that finally displays the images), such as described hereinabove, are expensive. Therefore, only several such displays are typically used in one job (one workflow). The display capable of emulating the aforementioned final output device will be referred to hereinbelow as a master display (master display apparatus).
Meanwhile, in a workflow such as movie production, the movie production operations are typically performed by several tens to several hundreds of people. Therefore, the operators perform operations by using displays that have no function of emulating another display. The display that has no function of emulating another display will be referred to hereinbelow as operation display (operation display apparatus).
Such an emulation function (function of emulating another display) is realized by a combination of display unique functions. The display unique functions typically differ among the displays. Therefore, when the operation results obtained in an operation display apparatus are displayed for checking on a master display apparatus (or a final display device (a projector or the like)), the desirable results are difficult to obtain. More specifically, due to the difference between the display unique functions, the display results obtained with the operation display apparatus can be significantly different from those obtained in the master display apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-167678 discloses a method for displaying the processing results of an image processing apparatus at a terminal. More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-167678 indicates that where a terminal requests a server to transmit the image subjected to image processing, the server determines the image processing apparatus to be used and transmits to the terminal the image to which image processing has been applied in this image processing apparatus.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-28658 discloses a system in which functional limitations are provided for each user and each function when an image-forming apparatus such as a printer is used. In the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-28658, where the user notifies the system of printing to a specific application by using a hot folder or the like, the functional limitation for each user is canceled and functional laminations are switched to those corresponding to the application.